The pilot of Berna and his awards

On the 1976 Olympia track, he achieved his 14th and 15th season successes in double man with Alexander Schuler’s drive and in Four Men with Thorsten Margis, Candy Bauer and Schüller. Thus Friedrich increased his World Cup winning record to 52 before the World Championships that began on Thursday.

Track season defeat in two games, unbeaten in four: the pilot leads Berna in a different league. Nobody can keep up, especially in the beginning. “This is all and the end of it all. He is very confident,” the spies said, praising the two masters. “Hopefully, he will be able to keep this going well beyond the World Cup Finals also towards the Olympic Games in 2022.” Friedrich’s crew is not satisfied with it. Pay Margis can’t really make friends within 4.95 seconds. He said, “We set the record for ourselves in the beginning.” Friedrich’s crew held him for 4.93 seconds.

The pilot remained calm about the overall World Cup victories on both skis – in a two-man-four-man for the third time. In Big Sled on Sunday he beat Austria’s Benjamin Mayer and Justin Krebs of Canada. Both have been the first to pursue him in the past few weeks and he can also hope to clinch medals with the World Cup goal at home in Altenburg.

Frederick der Zeit has only competition in all four

If Friedrich had to fear competition in one major, he would likely be in a foursome. “We were very dominant at the beginning,” he said. “But when the opponents get close it will be very close. We still have some tasks to do, especially in terms of materials. Let’s see which slide box we get into and what we will do with the pop group.” The spies also see “very strong competition” from Austria, Canada and Latvia in the four, “which will make our lives more difficult.”

They are now too strong for Johannes Lochner. The former world champion finished fourth in Big Sledge on Sunday, finishing the season in that position and currently unable to take on Mayer and Krebs.

Overall, things went better for him in two parts. The man from Stuttgart came in fifth on Saturday only. But the 30-year-old has landed second in the final standings and can also comfort himself: He’s the only pilot to defeat Friedrich this winter. In December, at the first stop in Innsbruck Eagles, Lochner won the mini-bobsleigh.

From Austria now to the World Cup in Altenburg. Coronavirus tests are on the calendar today, Monday, and the first training units are on Tuesday. From February onwards, everything in Friedrich’s home speaks to his next show of strength. He actually won two and four at the World Cup in the same place last year.

On the other hand, German women suffered their first defeat this season. In the success of former world champion Ilana Myers Taylor from the USA, Kim Kaliki from Wiesbaden took sixth place. Austrian Catherine Pearl won the World Cup for the first time without achieving any victory this season, because this winter – unlike German women – she started in every World Cup finals and scored more consistent goals. (dpa, sid)